The Littlest Borg
by Trekkie Lmo
Summary: Just what happened to the Borg baby after the end of Collective? J/C babyfic with a difference. Rated: MA
1. Chapter 1

The littlest Borg

Summary: Just what happened to the Borg baby after the end of Collective? J/C babyfic with a difference. Rated: MA

Holding the little bundle in her pink blanket, the captain looked more at home than Neelix had ever seen her.

He'd only meant to hop up to sickbay to give the captain her afternoon tea – he'd started to have to chase her around the ship to persuade her to eat just lately – but when he'd seen her sat so peacefully the baby in her arms, he hadn't had the heart to disturb her.

Neelix felt a hand grab his shoulder from behind, startling him a little.

"Mr Neelix, I assume you are here for a legitimate reason," the acerbic, and slightly sarcastic, tone of the voice could belong to only one person. The Doctor. Neelix decided a long time ago that the crosser the Doctor got, the nicer he'd be and he saw no reason for that to change now.

"Ah, Doctor," he whispered loudly. "I am, I just brought the Captain a little snack. I don't think she's had time to eat today…"

The Doctor immediately changed his tone: "Ah, well, very good, Mr Neelix. She should certainly do that. Very well observed. I'm glad someone's looking after her nutritional needs, she certainly doesn't manage them well herself."

Finally, something Neelix could wholeheartedly agree on with the holographic man. The Doctor nodded to let him continue and went back to his office, leaving Neelix to once again look on at the vision in front of him.

The Captain was a lovely woman. He always wondered why she didn't have children of her own – she was a natural mother. Just look how she mothered her crew.

As he finished the thought, the baby began to fuss and the Captain got up to go toward the replicator in the corner of the room, noticing her visitor as she stood.

"Hello Neelix, have you come to meet our little guest," she called across the room, careful to modulate her tone to be as soft and soothing as she could.

Neelix smiled. "I did, Captain, and to bring you a cup of coffee and a little something to go with it.

"Mr Paris asked for doughnuts, claiming they would rally Mr Kim's spirits as he recovered from his injuries, I saved you one."

The Captain picked up a baby bottle from the replicator, then sat back down in the nursing chair that had been placed by the little cot bed the Doctor had been caring for the infant in.

She smiled as she replied: "I'm sure it would cheer him up, that's very thoughtful of you."

The baby was obviously hungry, immediately latching on to the bottle, which the Captain gave her as if she were an expert.

"I'll just leave your snack here, Captain," Neelix said, placing the tray he carried on a biobed next to the chair.

"Oh, you don't have to go, Neelix, sit and chat to me while she eats…"

He knew she was being entirely too polite, he could tell she had been happy alone with the baby and her thoughts: "Captain, I do wish I could, but sadly, the galley awaits. I simply must get back to my pans or dinner will never get on the table in time for the end of Alpha Shift."

The Captain smiled and nodded as he left, a stray thought in his head wondering if the lovely Captain would ever be happy in life. He did so worry about her being lonely.

As he turned right out of the sickbay doors, Neelix wasn't watching where he was going and suddenly found his head banging into a hard, yet pliable material. Covered in black and red material, it took him only seconds to look up and realise it was Commander Chakotay's wide, and surprisingly muscular, chest he'd bumped into.

"Oh, Commander, so sorry, I really must look where I'm going!"

In his trademark gentle voice, the commander replied: "No problem at all Neelix, Are you okay?"

"Yes, yes, Commander, just a silly little Talaxian. I must toddle off and get dinner ready. I assume you're headed to see the Captain?"

Commander Chakotay looked at him, obviously a little surprised: "No, I wasn't, I was headed to see the Doctor to let him know our littlest Borg has a new family waiting for her. We should be arriving at her homeworld in about a week."

"Well, that's just lovely, Commander," Neelix said, not really sounding like it was. "I really must be going, anyway. I'll see you for dinner."

Chakotay smiled and shook his head as Neelix walked away. He really was odd sometimes. He put the thought out of his brain and headed into sickbay wondering why the Captain was there. She wasn't famed for offering to spend time with the Doctor.

As soon as he entered, he knew exactly why she was there. Sat on a nursing chair, she and the baby were in a little bubble of their own, picture-perfect and making his stomach flip.

She looked up at him as he entered the area of sickbay she was in, smiling at him as she sang to the tiny girl in her arms, a lilting melody he'd never heard before, something about the baby needing to hush. It was beautiful in her dusky tones.

He quietly walked over to them as the Captain finished the song and peeked underneath the pink blanket to see if her little charge was asleep. Obviously deciding she was, she stood and gently placed her into the crib next to the chair.

Chakotay hadn't seen Kathryn this happy and content since Naomi was little.

"How's our youngest crewmember getting on," he asked, noting the smile on his superior officer's face, no trace of the captain the pips on her collar indicated she was.

"She's just perfect, Commander," Kathryn said, looking into his eyes, piercing him with the love he saw in her blue orbs.

He suddenly felt slightly sick to his stomach. That was the look he'd always fantasised she'd give him. Love. He felt jealous of the baby just for a second, then he looked down into the crib and realised he too could fall in love with the little one it held. Now without the Borg implants that had covered her tiny frame, she was pink and gorgeous, with a smell he couldn't describe, yet couldn't seem to breath in enough of.

That and Kathryn's perfume as she stood just centimetres away from him.

"We've found her homeworld," he said, whispering as he said it, knowing it would be painful for Kathryn. "We'll be able to pass her over to her people in a week. They seem like a peaceful race, and they were delighted to hear she had survived."

He could see the Captain's mask slip over Kathryn's face before she replied. Standing up straight and taking a step away from the crib, she put her hands on her hips and said: "Very good, Commander. Great work." All traces of the emotional woman that were there just seconds before had disappeared. The Starfleet officer was all that remained once more. All business.

"I assume you'll liaise with the Doctor to arrange for her transfer, along with her medical records?"

The Doctor must have heard his name, coming round the corner as the Captain finished her sentence.

"Ah, Commander," he said as he approached the trio. "I was hoping you might head my way at some point. The baby is no longer in need of medical care. Please arrange to find her a carer as soon as possible."

Both Commander and Captain stared at the Doctor open-mouthed.

"What? Did you expect me to be a holographic nanny?" He asked, no trace of humour in his voice. "She's a perfectly healthy specimen, thanks to the superb care of yours truly, and her time in sickbay is now at an end," with that pronouncement, he began to stalk off to his office, throwing one last comment over his shoulder. "I suggest speaking to Miss Wildman about who her favourite babysitter is…"

The two commanding officers of Voyager were left speechless, looking at each other, before the Captain made a sudden move toward the door. The Commander grabbed her wrist. She tried not to think about the little flash of electricity that shot through her at his touch.

"Oh no you don't, Kathryn. You aren't leaving me literally holding the baby…" He was careful to keep his tone light but firm.

"But, Commander, this is in the 'day-to-day running of the crew' pile of responsibilities. Firmly in your remit," she said, trying to make it clear she had no intention of taking on any part of this sticky little problem.

Normally, they'd have argued with the Doctor, but they both knew he was right, he still had Harry Kim to care for, not to mention, further surgeries and work on the other four Borg children on board. Sickbay wasn't the right place for a newborn.

"Okay, how about this for a deal," Kathryn said, seeing the flinty determination in her first officer's eye and knowing he wasn't going to back down easily. "I'll pick her up from the Doctor after her nap this afternoon and take her until you can talk to Ensign Wildman and see if she's up for having a little guest for the week, and if not put a call out to the rest of the crew to see if there's a willing foster parent… I'm sure someone will want to have the few extra rations time off duty a grateful first officer is willing to provide for the volunteer…"

The comment seemed to settle the outrage in her first officer's eyes and Kathryn left sickbay as quickly as she could, worrying about what she might end up getting stuck with if she lingered.

Chakotay sighed as the sickbay doors closed behind Kathryn's perfect form. Spirits but the woman was impossible. She thought getting a crewman to take the baby for a week would be easy… he knew better.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Kathryn was just laying the baby down to sleep in her cot in the lounge area of her spacious Captain's quarters when her door chime sounded. Finally. She'd been on her own with little Rose, as she'd taken to calling her, all evening. She was starting to wonder if Chakotay was ever going to tell whoever was taking on her care to come and collect her.

She stood up from bending over the cot from tucking the little girl in, and went to the door. She was surprised to see both Chakotay and Ensign Wildman there when the doors slid apart.

"Good evening, Captain," Ensign Wildman said, clearly bringing with her bad news. Chakotay stood behind the petite woman as if he could hide behind her. Kathryn hoped he could see her flash of annoyance in her eyes as she purposefully stared into his while politely welcoming Ensign Wildman into her quarters.

"Good evening, Ensign. Why do I think this is not a social call," the Captain said, hands on her hips.

"You'd be right, Captain. I'm afraid we've not been inundated with volunteers to take out little girl on.

"I have a suggestion though, if you're happy to hear it?"

Kathryn smiled kindly, she knew Wildman was doing her best: "Certainly, Ensign."

"I can't have her overnight. Trying to handle a baby, plus Naomi, as well as helping Seven with the other four children, is probably taking on too much," she said. Kathryn suddenly felt guilty for even thinking the Ensign could take on Rose too. Of course she was already at capacity. She hadn't realised Seven had dragooned her into Borg-child duty on top of everything else.

"But, I'm happy to swap my duty shifts for day care until we get to our little guest's homeworld?"

The ensign phrased it as a question, but the look on Chakotay's face made Kathryn realise it was a done deal.

"That sounds good, Samantha. I assume we'll start this tomorrow," she queried, looking at Chakotay, who finally stirred his stumps and walked toward them, away from the door where he'd been hovering.

"Yes, Captain. I've arranged for Sam's normal duty roster to be suspended." Before he continued, the Captain interrupted him.

"Thank you, Commander. Ensign, you are dismissed. The Commander will ensure our little guest is at your quarters for the start of alpha shift."

Ensign Wildman had extended quarters for her and her daughter, with a nursery and learning room attached. It made sense she'd have all the children there for "school".

"Thank you, Captain," the Ensign said, standing to attention and leaving the room. AS soon as the doors slid shut, Kathryn rounded on her first officer.

"So what, exactly, Commander, are we doing about the little night time issue?" He did at least have the grace to blush and look embarrassed. She'd ordered him to find a solution and he'd failed her.

"Well, in the absence of any volunteers, I thought perhaps you might…" She stopped him mid-sentence.

"Oh, no, no, no, no, Commander. Newborns require two-hour feedings. I can't do that and get up and captain a starship the next morning." As she finished the sentence a thought flitted through her mind. A fitting punishment for his failure to secure adequate night-time care for Rose.

"But, I'll do you a deal. She can stay here with me if…" she paused for effect. He looked nervous. Perfect. Just where she wanted him. "… you take half the responsibility."

He clearly hadn't expected that to come out of her mouth at all.

He stuttered a response: "Er, well, er, okay. I guess I can do that". He tugged on his ear as he looked down and smiled, adding: "Um, what about sleeping arrangements?"

Kathryn laughed: " I think the sofa would do nicely for you, don't you?" She wasn't giving him an inch. He got her into this situation, he could suffer for it.


End file.
